I received an advanced reading copy in exchange for an honest review. The Court of Shadows in an amazing new take in the folklore and legends surrounding vampires and the added factor of taking place in France during the times of the monarchy, a topic I have always been very interested on, was what first drew me into the novel. With well fleshed out characters, amazing world building and a compelling plot, I couldn't recommend this book more for anyone looking for a new interesting story about vampires!

DNF at 30% | It’s safe to say that a lot of this books beauty was lost in translation...

I don’t know if I set my expectations too high or what happened exactly, something about this book didn’t appeal to me while reading.
The plot and characters were interesting enough and the idea of a post-revolution vampiric France is fantastic, but I don’t think the execution was the best and the fact that the potential was lost in the English translation shows through the repetition of some words.

The heroine seemed to me that she lacks depth (even if she gets a character development at some point I don’t think I’m hooked enough to want to know).
A lot of traumatic events happened to her so quickly that I think she didn’t get enough time to process and she seemed cool and collected enough.

I don’t want to be all negative because I did like some stuff, but to me and from what I read, it looked like the negatives outweigh the positives and I still turn it back to the translation.

Amazing book to read. Found on netgalley was drawn to it by the blurb so I requested it and thankfully was approved to read this book. 5 star book. Might reread it later on in the year. I do recommend this book and already told a few people that they need to read this book. Gonna check out the authors books now because man this was a Hella good book to read. I couldn't put it down at all

This book completely bored me. I could not connect to any of the characters, the MC was really annoying. The world building was subpar at best.

Thank you netgalley and Victor Dixen for this ARC.

Jeanne Froidelac is a seventeen girl living in a France where Louis XIV transmuted into the first vampire and the King of Shadows, ruling with terror over mortals, because of a few vicissitudes she ends up in a school for courtiers seeking revenge and with a plan to kill the King.
I had so many mixed feelings during the whole book, anger, irritation, sadness, comfort, everything.
The plot was so interesting and original, full with twists that I wasn't expecting.
I found Jeanne to be both likeable and unlikeable, she definitely had her reasons for most of the things she did and she had a lot of luck too, since she was always rescued from death in a way or another.
The school setting was so interesting, but I wished Jeanne discovered a lot of it adventuring around, in reality most of the information provided were told by someone, usually Naoko, and Jeanne magically always fit in.
Overall I wished that the setting was more showed than told, sometimes there were some encyclopedic vibes, always explanations about everything; most of the other characters were insufferable (as they should have been).
I'm definitely looking forward to the sequel to know what will happen to Jeanne next after that unexpected ending that I loved.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for sending me an advance reader's copy of this book. All opinions stated in this review are mine.

The Court of Shadows brings a refreshing new take to the world of vampire fiction - combining a seemingly historical setting with the immortality of the vampyre characters to create a timeless feel.

The novel focuses on Jeanne, who disguises herself as a baronette and joins a prestigious school for inspiring courtiers, with the intention of avenging the deaths of her family. Victor Dixen slowly introduces readers to the captivating world of Vampyria through Jeanne's training, and weaves many unique concepts into his world, such as the Shadows, vampyric roses and mares, and other mysterious creatures that do not fall into either categories of vampyre or human. The characters are well-rounded, all with their own ambitions and secrets that slowly become uncovered over the course of the novel.

The only downside is that the writing style had a tendency to feel somewhat juvenile. This, however, did not detract greatly from the overall experience of reading this novel.

I will definitely be picking up the sequel when it is translated into English.

The story in general is very interesting; I had very high expectations, but it wasn’t what I expected. It was difficult for me to connect with the main character, so much that I struggle a little finishing it. But overall, it was very intricate, you could feel the struggle the characters were going through and for anybody that likes really evil and without any redeemable qualities type of vampires, they would really enjoy this story.

I am really glad that vampire fiction is emerging again. This one is pretty standard as far as vampire fiction goes, with the added element of Louis XIV as the vampire king and the setting of Versailles. I wish more of his character was explored, but the novel spent a lot of time on the main character, who honestly wasn't that interesting. I had a hard time investing in her. But I enjoyed this one. I mean... vampires... how can you not?

I could not get into this book. It moved slowly and I couldn't form a connection with the characters. It was a very good thought out story but I didn't like the execution.

Another great vampire book but this one has a twist, a strong female lead on a quest for revenge against the vampire King of France in an alternate timeline 300 years ago. I found this really unique with the worldbuilding and learning about how the French court and royalty works in that world (although I assume some of it is true). I did think it lagged a bit in parts with a tell not show style of writing making it harder too get engaged fully into the story however I know this is a translation so it may be due to that. But overall this is a strong start to a series and a unique premise.

Anything with vampires I’m down to read!

The Court of Shadows was actually published in 2020 in France and was picked up by an English publisher. That being said, this translation was wonderfully done 👏🏽

I was pleasantly surprised how fast this book captivated my interest.

In whole this book was a great read! It kept me interested from the very first chapter to the last. With the Plot twists i didn’t expect To the world building. I’d recommend it to any with a love of reading about vampires, political plots, academic rivalry and vengeance.

The only downside to this book was how easy she overcame her difficulties. we’d be introduced to an issue then bam all good, we figured it out. But even with that id still recommended this book and excited to read the next!

Thank you NetGalley for providing an ARC for an honest review.

"The Court of Shadows" follows commoner Jeanne Froidelac and her quest for revenge against the tyrannical Vampire King Louis XIV. Set in an alternate timeline 300 years into his despotic rule, commoners are forced to donate their blood to satisfy the insatiable thirst of the vampiric aristocracy. After witnessing her family's murder at the hands of the king's men and discovering her family's involvement in the rebellion and forbidden alchemy, Jeanne is forced to assume the identity of Dianne de Gastefriche, a baroness. Under this ruse, she infiltrates the Grand Ecurie, a private boarding school for mortal nobility, and has the opportunity to participate in the "sip of the King," a ritual to become one of the king's squires. With her revenge plan in motion, Jeanne must navigate numerous personas, rules, and mysteries at the school.

Overall, I liked the premise and the story. Jeanne/Dianne is a determined girl ready to do anything to avenge her family. I wouldn't call her opportunistic, but she is quick to throw her allies under the bus and doesn't flinch from murder. I wish there was a little more to her character, as there is no significant development beyond her working her way into the royal court and struggling to hide her identity.

I also appreciate the world-building, which introduces not only vampires and other shadow creatures but also the political and social hierarchy of the French court. This aspect intrigued me, and I wish the story delved more into it. While there are hints of the scheming sides of the French court, we only meet a handful of royals. Additionally, there are a lot of allusions to Greek and Roman mythology, and I especially liked Jeanne's identity as Diana, a reference to the goddess.

The plot twist at the end, although somewhat foreseeable, left me wondering how Jeanne/Dianne would navigate her new position as a squire in the next book.

Unfortunately, the story suffers greatly due to several factors. The biggest issue for me was the writing style. Many character traits, emotions, motivations, world-building, or occurrences are stated but never illustrated. Expositions are not smoothly set up and feel very on the nose. For example, Jeanne often mentions her experience with hunting, but besides one hunting scene, there is never a point for her to demonstrate these skills in practice or relating to the plot. Similarly, her mother's old books from which Jeanne hones her smarts are mentioned, but it not a skill that is earned to overcome an obstacle. This is a recurring trend throughout the book. As a result, I struggled to believe or care about certain characters and plot points. Many times, things just happened to Jeanne/Dianne, and even though she overcomes setbacks through quick reactions, she is usually saved by coincidences or deus ex machinas. There was never a point in the story where I felt Jeanne/Dianne was ever in actual danger or anticipated tension.

The characters all feel two-dimensional, with no real agency beyond their archetypal motivations. There's the mean headmistress, Madame Therese, who bullies Jeanne/Dianne in hopes of advancing at court. There's the best friend, Naoko Takagari, who shares Jeanne/Dianne's hate for vampires (though their friendship didn't feel authentic to me). There's the love interest, Tristan de La Ronciere, who later reveals his true motivations, and the vampire marquise, Edmee de Vauvalon, who takes pleasure in torturing commoners, and so on.

All in all, this story seems more suited for kids and teenagers, despite being marketed as for adults in the summary. If I had read it in my youth, I would have likely enjoyed it more. Perhaps setting the story at a school instead of a court, and not exploring more mature themes, characters, and plotlines, dampened my enthusiasm for this book. It appears that Book 1 sets up Jeanne's attendance at Versailles, and I am now compelled to read Book 2 to find out if she succeeds in her quest. Hopefully, with characters, hierarchies, and dynamics already established, the next book in this trilogy won't suffer from rushed exposition. (FYI: The trilogy was originally released in French and has already been published, so I could technically read it now, just need to freshen up my French.)

The Court of Shadows is bursting at the seams with under-explained lore and absolutely stuffed with every trope you could possibly imagine... and even so, I finished it in a few hours, and I want to know what happens next.

The book, set in France, imagines a world where most developed nations are ruled by vampires, with a vampiric King Louis XIV at the head of it all. Human nobles are below vampire nobles, and human commoners are at the bottom of the hierarchy (and must regularly "donate" blood to feed their vampire overlords). Protagonist Jeanne discovers in a very abrupt fashion that her parents were members of a rebel faction opposing vampire rule, and is forced to take on someone else's identity to survive. She is brought to what is essentially an elite boarding school for human nobility, and engages in a contest to get close to the king, in the hopes of freeing the world from the vampires forever.

Jeanne toes the line of Mary Sue very, very closely-- she has anime protagonist hair, picks up love interests in the blink of an eye, and always comes out on top, even if she doesn't prevail based on her own innate skill. I found that obstacles in her way seemed to step aside a bit too easily throughout the story, and I was never concerned that she wouldn't be successful in whatever she tried. In particular, she starts the story with absolutely no combat training, but never truly comes close to losing a fight. She also has a nasty habit of betraying her benefactors, which made it hard to like her, even though I could understand her reasons for doing so. I do like that she sometimes prevails by cheating or subterfuge, which makes more sense than her suddenly discovering a natural gift for literally everything, but her victories didn't seem very hard-won.

The world building was extremely intricate, and you could tell the author had really thought about what a nation ruled by vampires would look like. That said, there were a lot of elements I didn't feel were adequately explained, such as the nature of the "ghouls" or the origins of the stryga (although I'm likely spelling that wrong). I felt like the book illustrated small details (like the vampire roses) really carefully, but left wider concepts unexplored. I realize that this is the first in a series, but I didn't walk away feeling like I fully understood the setting. I appreciated that the side characters had some development and personal struggles, but it felt like too many under-explained revelations and important events were crammed into the book for its short length.

I'm not sure this is intended as YA, although Jeanne is a teenager. The book gets more graphic (and gross) than I expected with its descriptions of death, dismemberment, and torture, and one scene involving some truly heinous phlebotomy practices turned my stomach. I was able to get through it, but more sensitive readers may find it too much to handle.

One more complaint, and then I'll tell you why I'm still rating this book well. One of the vampire characters has a last name that made me stop reading and audibly sigh. I could tell the author really thought he did something in calling the guy "Mortange," but I took high school French, and it came off as an attempt to be edgy and cool rather than clever. Did this guy make up his own last name? Big, big sigh.

All this said, I couldn't put The Court of Shadows down. The writing style flowed nicely, much less abrupt and choppy than a lot of other similar fiction, and the book was almost entirely free of errors. Even the concepts I found disgusting were oddly compelling, and I wanted to see what would happen next. This book is not high fantasy, nor would I call it great literature, but it was a lot of fun and easy to read, and I would like to read the next one when it comes out. I hope the author can slow the story pace a bit in the following volumes and let events breathe a little, and I think a glossary would be beneficial, but he's got my attention.

Not my usual read, but in the end I’ve enjoyed Jeanne’s story. Interesting twists and turns that keep the reader engaged. Looking forward to the next book in this series.
If you like vampires, give this book a try.

No mi lectura usual, pero terminé disfrutando la historia de Jeanne. Tiene una trama interesante con suficientes giros para mantener al lector en ascuas. Así que, quedé suficientemente intrigada como para estar pendiente de la continuación de la serie.
Si te gustan las historias de vampiros, dale una oportunidad a éste libro.

I loved the historical elements with the Vampires was a great idea for a story. I enjoyed the overall concept and thought it worked perfectly together. The characters were what I was hoping for and it did everything that I wanted. I was hooked from the first page and enjoyed the way Victor Dixen wrote this.

"They also make women’s styles that are to die for,” he tells me. “The king will surely give you a few pairs since you’ll be his ward. Without the red heel, of course, since those are reserved exclusively for vampyres. Étiquette oblige.” I look at Alexandre’s vermilion heels and make a mental note of this tidbit of information. It might come in handy later on, when I need to identify the bloodsuckers at the court. The glacial aura of their presence may not be enough."

This was really fun and imaginative. Would read more in this series and more from this author. This was well-written and bingable. I'll forever be a sucker for anything with vampires. TYSM for letting me be an ARC reader.

This book is the translated version of 'Vampyria" and it is such an interesting read. The characters are enjoyable and unique with their backgrounds from Japan to Louisiana! The main character, Jeanne Froidelac, is a brave girl who goes on a really intense adventure where she must take the role of Diane Gastefriche, a noble lady from her old town. She enrolls into a nice and prestigious school that will teach her to live in the court of the vampyre Versailles. I LOVED this book and cannot wait for the next translated one to be released!

I was very interested to see how this concept was handled and I can at least say I had a lot of fun with it. Excited to see where the series goes from here.

Very hot characters and easy to follow plot. I think it was a good read after a crazy work day. Keeps you engaged and lets the mind relax and dive into the story.